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Vietnam limits new golf courses to save land for rice: report

HANOI (AFP) - Vietnam has suspended giving out licences for new golf
courses in an effort to maintain soil for rice cultivation and protect
poor farmers, reports said Tuesday.

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has asked local authorities to review all
existing courses, according to a report on the government's website,
while the Vietnam News daily said no new licences would be issued.

"Golf course projects located on areas under rice cultivation must be
unconditionally stopped," Phan Huu Thang, head of the Foreign Investment
Agency, was quoted as saying in the Vietnam News.

He added that no new licences would be issued pending the review of
existing projects.

Earlier this year, Vietnamese media said new courses had been licensed
at a rate of more than one per week since early 2006, when foreign
investor interest surged in the "emerging tiger" economy, which saw
growth of 8.5 percent last year.
But they explained in July that as food prices were soaring and
inflation went into double digits -- hitting 28.3 percent in August --
Hanoi wanted to freeze new courses that do not meet land-use criteria
and environmental protection requirements.

World grain prices have shot up this year, leading to panic-buying of
rice in Vietnam and prompting the government to cap foreign sales to
ensure food security.

Amid Vietnam's economic boom, rice land shrank from 4.5 million to 4.1
million hectares between 2000 and 2006 due to the growth of industrial
and residential areas, the Agriculture Ministry said in June.
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